Unsure: necklaces might be deadstock but unused? sweatshirt was listed as deadstock but not used.

I've worn everything but the polka-dot skirt and cat sweatshirt at least once. The black pants and blue denim (which I neglected to include a picture of) both need to be hemmed still.

Where does that leave me?

I logged 49 coupons in these few months alone. My August total was NEGATIVE 25 coupons. This brings me to NEGATIVE 74 coupons for November. Seriously. NEGATIVE 74 out of 66. If you asked me in January where I thought I'd be, I would not have guessed I would have used more than double the coupons available for the entire challenge. Since this is already so big, I'll leave it here. I've been looking at what I bought during the year and I have some thoughts on the purchases and hopefully they will be constructive.

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This is the preface for my (tardy) February Goal post on "The MOST Eco-conscious Ways to Give Away Your Unwanted Clothes". As I started to dig into the issue, I realized I could either do a few short posts or one giant post which would be barely readable online.

As I started looking into the used clothing industry, I found that the majority of news sources cited Overdressed, a book which I both have and like. An excerpt of its chapter on used clothing, "The Afterlife of Cheap Clothes" is here. I've cited other sources throughout and provided a list of related links at the end so you can read them in your leisure time, if so inclined. When people give their unwanted clothing to thrift stores as a donation, they often assume it's going directly to people in need of free clothing. Maybe they think it goes to those in the community who just have very little money and live at or below the poverty line. Or they think it goes to people who are enrolled in the …

Have you ever been in a store or watched an ad where someone deliberately tries to gloss over things or make them confusing to get you to do what they want (buy something)? Sure you have. And this is basically what happened to “no animal testing” messaging over time. How the hell are you supposed to know what vague text claiming no animal testing really means? Or if the bunny logo on the bottle means anything? I’m here to walk you through it.

If you want the cheat sheet, here we go:

Leaping Bunny (logo above) – best, most rigorous process for the companies (no ingredients or finished product tested on animals; must open entire product chain for independent audit; must promise to stop animal testing after a certain date when they sign on)

Cruelty-Free bunny (logo above) – okay, it’s a promise from the company (no ingredients or finished product tested on animals; company gives its word but no proof is required)

As promised a century ago, I'm writing about vegan food abroad! This first installment is what I ate in London. Talk about fond memories. We were in Paris, Amsterdam and London for about 2-3 days each.

Yorica! - I saw someone on Instagram post their Yorica delight and immediately put it on my list. Everything is vegan. I'm both sad and grateful that we don't have a Yorica! in the US since I don't need to eat soft serve daily and I probably would. Delicious flavors, delicious toppings, nice peeps. The ominvore we were with seemed to like it as well. Yorica! *fist pump*

Mildred's - This place has three locations. Apparently the Soho one has a constant crowd and we foolishly thought we'd get a table for 4 on a weekend night. (We went elsewhere.) But we did manage to eat some decent salads at the Mildred's in Kings Cross to help "detox" from the amount of sugar we consumed at Cookies and Scream (on an empty stomach, no less). Not everything here is vega…